Tyler Wilson: Cashing Checks

It was a good scrimmage for Tyler Wilson as the quarterback executed the offense on a long day in Reynolds Razorback Stadium. The quarterback was effective in his execution.

Quarterback Tyler Wilson had a simple plan Friday when the Arkansas offense took the field in a major scrimmage. He just wanted to keep it simple and take what the defense provided.

That wasn't his words, but that's what he did with four touchdown marches in six chances in a solid performance in the Hogs' seventh practice of spring drills.

"The defense was in their base stuff, so we didn't call a lot of deep passes," Wilson said. "We went to a lot of quick stuff and made sure we had our protections and checks right. I think today was about making progress in our checks and getting the right protections called. I think we made progress."

Wilson said there were some big plays in the passing game, but they came on simple short throws.

"We had a third down call where we checked into a little angle route to Dennis Johnson," Wilson said. "It's not much of a pass. He cuts back across the middle and I lay it into him. I don't have to throw it but about 5 yards and he takes it 70. Those are nice plays to get you a big number in the stats."

Actually, it was a 58-yard pass play. There were also some short flips that other running backs turned into long gainers.

"What you saw is that we were able to get it to our tight ends and backs for good plays," Wilson said. "We had some play-action to our tight ends that D. J. Williams, Chris Gragg and Austin Tate had big catches. Those tight ends got a lot of plays today."

Head coach Bobby Petrino said the plan was to utilize the tight ends, especially Williams.

"I didn't know that, but it was fun to get my hands on some passes," Williams said. "Only problem, I probably didn't have my best day blocking. I can do better than that. I want to be better with my blocking at the point of attack. Coach (Chris) Klenakis has given me some new techniques and I have to do better than what I did today. I'm going to work on my blocking.

"We want to be good in the running game. That's the best way to help our passing, run it better. So there are some things I need to clean up."

Wilson ran the ball a little as the Hogs continue to add wrinkles. He kept the ball on some short-yardage option plays.

"If the defensive end over commits, we are going to make them pay," Wilson said. "I'm not a great runner, but if the defensive ends are aggressive in certain situations, I can probably get 10 yards before they catch me. It's going to be there in some things we've got in our offense and I'll take it. We've got some calls in our book that I've got to make for those runs."

He was more proud of his mental plays, than anything he did with his feet.

"The checks we made today, it takes all 11 to execute it like that," he said. "It's not just me making a check against a blitz. It's all of us doing it together. I think we took some nice steps with our blitz pickup today. I think we did a pretty good job against their blitzes."